D 629 
.U6 P5 
1919 
Copy 1 



Statement of 
Henry P. Davison, Chairman 

on behalf of the 

American Red Cross War Council 

on its retirement 
March i, 1919 



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The American Red Cross 

National Headquarters 

Washington, D. C. 



/^/^ Statement of 

Henry P. Davison, Chairman 

on behalf of the 

American Red Cross War Council 



To the American People: 

"The War Council of the American Red Cross, appointed by 
President Wilson on May 10, 1917, to carry on the work of the 
American Red Cross during the war, will, at its request and by 
vote of the Central Committee cease to exist today. 

"Immediately on the signing of the armistice the War Council 
instituted studies to determine when the strictly war work of the 
organization would be sufficiently matured to enable the direction 
of affairs to be resumed by the permanent staff. Henry P. 
Davison, being in Paris when the armistice was signed, summoned 
a conference there of the heads of all the Red Cross Commissions 
in Europe to canvass the situation. After considering all the 
factors it was concluded to make the transition on March I . The 
very fortunate choice of Dr. Livingston Farrand as the new chair- 
man of the Central Committee, and thereby the permanent chief 
executive of the Red Cross, makes possible the consummation of 
this plan under the most favorable conditions. 

Accounts Audited by VFar Department 

"Detailed reports to Congress and a complete audit of its 
accounts by the War Department will constitute the final record 
of Red Cross activity during the war. Although it has been the 
rule to make public all expenditures when authorized and to give 
detailed information relative to all work undertaken, the War 
Council in turning over its responsibilities to Dr. Farrand and his 
associates desires to give a brief resume of Red Cross war time 

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activities to the American people, to whom the Red Cross belongs, 
and whose generous contributions have made possible all that has 
been accomplished. 

Gifts Exceed $400,000M0 

"During the past nearly twenty-one months the American 
people have given in cash and supplies to the American Red Cross 
more than $400,000,000. No value can be placed upon the con- 
tributions of service which have been given without stint and often- 
times at great sacrifice by millions of our people. 

"The effort of the American Red Cross in this war has consti- 
tuted by far the largest voluntary gifts of money, of hand and 
heart, ever contributed purely for the relief of human suffering. 
Through the Red Cross the heart and spirit of the whole American 
people have been mobilized to take care of our own, to relieve the 
misery incident to the war, and also to reveal to the world the 
supreme ideals of our national life. 

W^ork for Our Own 

"Everyone who has had any part in this war effort of the Red 
Cross is entitled to congratulate himself. No thanks from anyone 
could be equal in value to the self satisfaction everyone should 
feel for the part taken. Fully 8,000,000 American women have 
exerted themselves in Red Cross service. 

"When we entered the war the American Red Cross had about 
500,000 members. Today, as the result of the recent Christmas 
Membership Roll Call, there are upwards of 17,000,000 full paid 
members outside of the members of the Junior Red Cross, number- 
ing perhaps 9,000,000 school children additional. 

"The chief effort of the Red Cross during the war has been to 
care for our men in service and to aid our Army and Navy wher- 
ever the Red Cross may have been called on to assist. As to this 
phase of the work Surgeon General Ireland of the United States 
Army recently said: The Red Cross has been an enterprise as 
vast as the war itself. From the beginning it has done those 
things which the Army Medical Corps wanted done, but could 
not do itself.* 

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Activities Abroad 

"The Red Cross endeavor in France has naturally been upon an 
exceptionally large scale where service has been rendered to the 
American Army and to the French Army and the French people 
as well, the latter particularly during the trying period when the 
Allied World was waiting for the American Army to arise in force 
and power. Hospital emergency service for our Army in France 
has greatly diminished, but the Red Cross is still being called upon 
for service upon a large scale in the great base hospitals, where 
thousands of American sick and wounded are still receiving 
attention. At these hospitals the Red Cross supplies huts and 
facilities for the amusement and recreation of the men as they 
become convalescent. Our Army of Occupation in Germany 
was followed with Medical Units prepared to render the same 
emergency aid and supply service which was the primary business 
of the Red Cross during hostilities. The Army Canteen Service 
along the lines of travel has actually increased since the armistice. 

"As for work among the French people, now that hostilities 
have ceased, the French themselves naturally prefer as far as 
possible to provide for their own. It has accordingly been de- 
termined that the guiding principle of Red Cross policy in France 
henceforth shall be to have punctilious regard to its every respon- 
sibility, but to direct its efforts primarily to assisting French relief 
societies. The liberated and devastated regions of France have 
been divided by the Government into small districts, each offi- 
cially assigned to a designated French relief organization. 

QyOOO ff^orkers in France 

"The American Red Cross work in France was initiated by a 
Commission of eighteen men who landed on French shores June 1 3, 
1917. Since then some 9,000 persons have been upon the rolls 
in France, of whom 7,000 were actively engaged when the armis- 
tice was signed. An indication of the present scale of the work 
will be obtained from the fact that the services of 6,000 persons 
are still required. 

"Our American Expeditionary Force having largely evacuated 
England, the activities of the Red Cross Commission there are 

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naturally upon a diminishing scale. Active operations are still 
in progress in Archangel and Siberia. 

"The work in Italy has been almost entirely on behalf of the 
civilian population of that country. In the critical hours of 
Italy's struggle the American people, through their Red Cross, 
sent a practical message of sympathy and relief, for which the 
Government and people of Italy have never ceased to express 
their gratitude. 

Supplies and Personnel to Near East 

"The occasion for such concentration of effort in Italy, England, 
Belgium and even in France having naturally and normally 
diminished, it has been possible to divert supplies and personnel 
in large measure to the aid of those people in the Near East who 
have hitherto been inaccessible to outside assistance, but whose 
sufferings have been upon an appalling scale. The needs of these 
peoples are so vast that governments alone can meet them, but 
the American Red Cross is making an effort to relieve immediately 
the more acute distress. 

"An extensive group of American workers has been dispatched 
to carry vitally needed supplies, and to work this winter in the 
various Balkan countries. In order to coordinate their activities, 
a Balkan Commission has been established, with headquarters at 
Rome, Italy, from which point alone all the Balkan centers can be 
reached promptly. 

"A Commission has just reached Poland with doctors and 
nurses, medical supplies, and food for sick children and invalids. 
An American Red Cross Commission has also been appointed to 
aid in relieving the suffering of Russian prisoners still confined in 
German prison camps. 

"An important Commission is still working in Palestine. 
Throughout the war special cooperation has been given to the 
Armenian and Syrian Relief Commission, which was the only 
agency able to carry relief in the interior of Turkish dominions. 

Red Cross Will Continue 

"Red Cross effort is thus far flung. It will continue to be so. 
But the movement represented by this work has likewise assumed 

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an intimate place in the daily life of our people at home. The 
army of workers which has been recruited and trained during the 
war must not be demobilized. All our experience in the war shows 
clearly that there is an unlimited field for service of the kind which 
can be performed with peculiar effectiveness by the Red Cross. 
What its future tasks may be it is yet impossible to forecast. 
We know that so long as there is an American Army in the field 
the Red Cross will have a special function to perform. 

"Nothing could be of greater importance to the American Red 
Cross than the plans just set in motion by the five great Red Cross 
societies of the world to develop a program of extended activities 
in the interest of humanity. The conception involves not alone 
efforts to relieve human suffering, but to prevent it; not alone a 
movement by the people of an individual nation, but an attempt 
to arouse all people to a sense of their responsibility for the welfare 
of their fellow beings throughout the world. It is a program both 
ideal and practical. Ideal in that its supreme aim is nothing less 
than veritable 'Peace on earth, good will to men,* and practical 
in that it seeks to take means and measures which are actually 
available and make them effective in meeting without delay the 
crisis which is daily recurrent in the lives of all peoples. 

"For accomplishing its mission in the years of peace which must 
lie ahead of us the Red Cross will require the ablest possible 
leadership, and must enjoy the continued support, sympathy and 
participation in its work of the whole American people. It is 
particularly fortunate that such a man as Dr. Livingston Farrand 
should have been selected as the permanent head of the organiza- 
tion. The unstinted fashion in which all our people gave of 
themselves throughout the war is the best assurance that our 
Red Cross will continue to receive that cooperation which will 
make its work a source of pride and inspiration to every American." 

THE WAR COUNCIL OF THE 
AMERICAN RED CROSS, 

Henry P, Davison, Chairman. 



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